Mariners Playoff Hopes: Three Things that Need to Happen

Get back to what works

Before their most recent road trip, the Mariners were 23-9 in one-run games, easily the best in MLB at the time. Since then, they’ve dropped four one-run games in a row.

One may look at that statistic and think “uh… well if they still had Kendall Graveman, maybe they’d be winning those one-run games”. While Graveman’s presence in the bullpen would have certainly helped, the Mariners wouldn’t have even been in contention in those games without the production of Abraham Toro. Without Toro, Graveman would have been twiddling his thumbs in the bullpen the past two weeks, likely without a single opportunity to close a game.

In order to win one-run games consistently, a team must play outstanding defense, make clutch hits late in the game, and get near-perfect outings from their bullpen.

In Seattle’s most recent one-run loss, a 5-4 heartbreaker to the Yankees on Saturday, two defensive miscues cost at least three runs: Mitch Haniger flubbed a routine fly ball to right field in the 6th inning, then Ty France threw to second instead of a home on a non-force out later in the inning. That same game, the Mariners jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the 2nd inning, then didn’t come close to producing a run the rest of the game, while the bullpen faltered as well.

Excelling in those three aspects of the game has been the Mariners’ secret weapon this year, not their Achilles heel. If Seattle can revert to their old ways and own their strengths, expect them to make noise in the American League playoff race as the regular season comes to a close.